Paying For Car Damage Privatley

[finest1]

hi all,

i'd like to wish you all a happy and safe xmas!!

i have a situation i would like your opinions on:

i accidently bumped into someone from behind. it was a total mistake on my part. good news is there is minimal damage. basically i scuffed his bumper, it was low impact. only damage for me was a cracked number plate!

so we exchanged details and he has given me a reasonable quote to get it repaired. i personally wouldn't bother, but i suppose its the principle of the fact.

1) how do i protect myself when i meet with him to verify i have paid him and we are effectivley "settled"

2) if i do number 1, i was thinking of telling my insurance so they can have his details in case he does a crafty and claims anyway. sounds ok, but would they class this an "incident" and will my premium go up. if it does go up, on average how much by do you think? im just thinking if the premium is less than what im paying, i might as well go the insurance route. i've never ever claimed in my driving life.

thanks in advance

finest1

[wendle]

This happened to my years ago when I backed out of a parking

space and caught my bumper on another car, it only put a couple of small
scratches on his bumper, and he agreed to have a smart repair done, I paid the
smart repair company direct and wrote a statement on the receipt for him to sign
saying that he was happy with the repair. I didn’t contact my insurance company
and herd nothing more about it.

[is200 Newbie]

Inform the police (they will give you advice) and also your insurance. In informing your insurance they will not alter your premium as you don't need to give your policy number as you are just seeking advice.

My wife was in the same situation a while back and was her fault (admitted) - small scratch and dent on the bumper an old Picasso we went through the insurance as there was quite a big cost due on her car due to the angle she hit the Picasso. No one was injured at all. We put this through our insurance as the cost was almost £1000 for the repair to my wifes.

A couple of months later after all the repairs had been done and everything forgotten we were contacted by the insurance company for a statement as the people in the other car had put in a claim for whiplash. We argued this as there was absolutely no way anyone was injured whatsoever but they came back and said it would cost less to settle rather than prolong the case but it would affect our premium!! . Apparently you have 12 months from date of accident to claim for this .... Totally ridiculous !!

Anyway wife managed to remember to take a load of pictures (heat of the moment its not something you always think of doing) so that saved us really - rather than have an increased premium the claim was thrown out lucky for us.

If it was me I would seek the advice - did you take pictures?

As for proving they have accepted payment then a signed "invoice" would cover you.

[Bluesman]

Remember once you have informed your insurance company each time you are asked have you had any accidents in the last 4/5 years you will have to declare this and as you are at fault for the accident they will not look kindly on if you forget or dont declare it. If of course the third party eventually contacts their insurance company your insurance company will find out that way and could refuse to pay out because you have failed to inform them of the accident. Mike.

[finest1]

thanks for all your contributions.

i'd thought i'd update you:

i wrote out a private settlement receipt/waiver for the injured party to sign releasing me from any damages and future damages, which he signed

i will be speaking to my insurance tomorrow. they told me they would put it on a file note,and not class it as a claim. however, i will raise the above with them to get a clear idea of how they will view it in the future.

thanks

[ganzoom]

This happened to me recently, but third party was at fault. We sorted it all win your getting insurance involved....I thought even if you don't make a claim the insurance company will record it as an accident on your records, and bump up your re-newal costs?

[dave1]

If through insurers and full recovery made from 3rd party it should not affect premium. Certainly didn't affect wife's premium after she was rear ended. Our insurers (Churchill) made full recovery from 3rd party insurers (Swiftcover) and premium certainly did not increase.

[Bluesman]

They wont necessarily bump up your premiums for reporting your car had been involved in an accident for which the 3rd party has accepted complete blame and you have recovered all your losses.

When you renew your insurance or go for another insurance company you will be asked if you have been involved in any accidents in the last 5/6 years, note they ask for accidents not claims, you need to tell them about any accident and also put you were not to blame and that you recovered all your losses. If you dont they can refuse to cover any future accident damage for failure to divulge previous accidents. You wont know this untill its time to claim or often you will get an administration invoice to amend your policy to show you had an accident which you failed to tell them about. I know someone who was charged £45, yup its all just a money making scam but they have the whip hand.

You can always insure your NCB but I dont know of anyone to lose their NCB for being involved in a Non fault accident. Mike

[matt-c]

Don't tell the insurance company. If it's all been settled and everything signed and you're both happy, then that's the end of it.

The insurance company can't file it as a claim, because no claim has been made, but you are admitting causing an accident, or being at fault in the event of an accident, and this will go against you. It will be noted down on file as part of your driving history.

Insurance proposals are all about risk to reward. The lower risk you are, the lower your premium is. The higher risk you are, the more it costs you. You calling them and informing them you were at fault in an accident is putting yourself further up the risk chain.

[Bluesman]

Its not a good idea to lie to your insurance company. Note I said they ask you if you have had an ACCIDENT and not a claim in the pas 5/6 years. If you lie to them and they find out you can lose your cover and you may then find out insurance companies refuse you insurance in the future.

Lie at your peril. Mike

[dave1]

Totally agree with Mike. Not declaring anything could prove extremely expensive in the long term.

[normski2]

Its not a good idea to lie to your insurance company. Note I said they ask you if you have had an ACCIDENT and not a claim in the pas 5/6 years. If you lie to them and they find out you can lose your cover and you may then find out insurance companies refuse you insurance in the future.

Lie at your peril. Mike

I agree with all of that.

However I honestly think that the insurance companies do nothing to help the situation by their stupid over reaction to being notified.

I had a guy turn across the back of my car, whilst I was parked, after just 3 weeks ownership of my 220d. I was in Swansea on a three day holiday, this was day one....great!! I was gutted and livid, although the damage was slight. He struck me as an honest type and having exchanged all details he said he would pay for the body shop repairs at Lexus Poole. I phoned my insurance company to advise them of the incident and advised that the other party wanted to settle so there would be no claim as such. I was advising my insurance co in case there a hiccup should occur....you never know! The advisor said this was fine and they would put any claim on hold until my return from holiday.

The guy was true to his word and settled the entire bill direct to Lexus in advance of the work being completed.

Advised the insurance company and they were fine about it all............until I came to renew my policy about 5 months later. My premium had gone up by more than £200. Why? In the words of Nelly the Elephant.......'if you advise us ( or any insurance company for that matter) of an incident, even if no claim is made, we view you as more likely to make a claim in the near future and the advising of the incident is regarded as a no pay out claim'. This is really quite ridiculous.

I complained to the highest level with Nelly..but in reality got nowhere.

Took my business elsewhere and had the 'fictitious claim' removed from my records by another insurance company following discussion of the event. I still keep the details of the incident in my documents file.

So, yes, you should be honest in my opinion...but don't be surprised if you get screwed over for your honesty while the deceiver walks away laughing.

[matt-c]

Its not a good idea to lie to your insurance company. Note I said they ask you if you have had an ACCIDENT and not a claim in the pas 5/6 years. If you lie to them and they find out you can lose your cover and you may then find out insurance companies refuse you insurance in the future.

Lie at your peril. Mike

Note I didn't say anything about them asking. I said don't ring them and tell them.

[Bluesman]

Its not a good idea to lie to your insurance company. Note I said they ask you if you have had an ACCIDENT and not a claim in the pas 5/6 years. If you lie to them and they find out you can lose your cover and you may then find out insurance companies refuse you insurance in the future.

Lie at your peril. Mike

Note I didn't say anything about them asking. I said don't ring them and tell them.

I couldnt see the bit about "ringing" your insurance company. There can be no argument about informing your insurance company, as soon as it is convenient for you to inform them after the accident if its your fault or not they will expect you to tell them. If you go down the route that the 3rd party is going to pay damages direct and that he has admitted fault for the accident makes no difference you have to ring them, email them or write to them and tell them. To tell people not to inform their insurance company is fool hardy and just plain wrong. Mike.

[noby76]

ok just trying to make a bit of sense out of this.. driver A bumped into driver B. both driver A admits their mistake and both driver A and driver B exchange details.

driver A agrees to pay for damage caused to driver B they both sign a document agreeing this. driver B's car has now been repaired and he's back on the road.

and my question is this,

Why should driver A call up his insurance company to let them know he has crashed into driver B and have already paid out of his pocket to have driver B's car repaired??

• what benefit does this bring driver A in informing his insurance company.
• and what benefit does this bring to the insurance company if they have not had to fork out the funds on behalf of driver A to get driver B's car repaired??

[Bluesman]

ok just trying to make a bit of sense out of this.. driver A bumped into driver B. both driver A admits their mistake and both driver A and driver B exchange details.

driver A agrees to pay for damage caused to driver B they both sign a document agreeing this. driver B's car has now been repaired and he's back on the road.

and my question is this,

Why should driver A call up his insurance company to let them know he has crashed into driver B and have already paid out of his pocket to have driver B's car repaired??

• what benefit does this bring driver A in informing his insurance company.
• and what benefit does this bring to the insurance company if they have not had to fork out the funds on behalf of driver A to get driver B's car repaired??

Read the terms and conditions of your insurance policy, I dont make the rules up. Mike

[noby76]

i can agree its stated in the terms and conditions of car insurance policy's but my questions was.

• What benefit does this bring driver A in informing his insurance company
• and what benefit does this bring to the insurance company if they have not had to fork out the funds on behalf of driver a to get driver B's car repaired??

[Bluesman]

i can agree its stated in the terms and conditions of car insurance policy's but my questions was.

• What benefit does this bring driver A in informing his insurance company
• and what benefit does this bring to the insurance company if they have not had to fork out the funds on behalf of driver a to get driver B's car repaired??

Who knows what benefit either company gets out of it but the one thing you can be sure of is that if you dont abide br the terms and conditions as your insurance comapny has laid out you give them the excuse for not paying out a claim and leave you in a large pile of doo doo. Mike

[noby76]

which i agree Mike

But they will only find out if Driver A triggers it by picking up the phone and telling them the story. the end goal here was to get driver B's car repaired. Driver B didn't care how driver A goes about it. Driver B wanted his car repaired. this has been achieved and he his now a happy man back on the road.

the case has now been closed so we all know driver B cannot claim through his insurance as he no longer has a damaged car as evidence neither can he claim through driver A's insurance as he's not the policy holder.

driver A's insurance company wont have any excuse for not paying out any future claims because only driver A would have had to inform them in order for them to find out about this incident. Driver B wouldn't have been able to initiate a conversation with driver A's insurance company as he's not the policy holder.

so what benefit is this bringing driver A and his insurance company if the end goal of repairing driver B's vehicle has been achieved and the case is closed.??

[dave1]

So if a problem arises from the repair a few months down the line the "no fault" driver has no recourse? If he had notified his insurers they might help to get it rectified by using their muscle to persuade the repairers to rectify. You would have the proof of damage if you were savvy enough to get a copy of the repair invoice billed to the other driver.

[matt-c]

This thread does make me chuckle. I do wonder if all those shouting down to us from their moral high ground would actually do as they're preaching? I very much doubt it.

If you came home to find a window smashed on your house - not broken into, nothing stolen, just a broken pane of glass, you wouldn't claim for it on the house insurance, you'd just fix it yourself out of your own pocket. Would you then ring your home and contents insurer to tell them you'd just paid for a window to be replaced? Of course you wouldn't.

Likewise, if you have a little rub in a car park, and you sort it out with the other party without involving the insurance company, why on earth would you ring them up and say "hey, just an FYI. I bumped my car into another one at Tesco today. Don't worry, I'm paying for it myself, but I thought you should know so that you can elevate my risk status for future policies. Thanks!"

[Bluesman]

This thread does make me chuckle. I do wonder if all those shouting down to us from their moral high ground would actually do as they're preaching? I very much doubt it.

If you came home to find a window smashed on your house - not broken into, nothing stolen, just a broken pane of glass, you wouldn't claim for it on the house insurance, you'd just fix it yourself out of your own pocket. Would you then ring your home and contents insurer to tell them you'd just paid for a window to be replaced? Of course you wouldn't.

Likewise, if you have a little rub in a car park, and you sort it out with the other party without involving the insurance company, why on earth would you ring them up and say "hey, just an FYI. I bumped my car into another one at Tesco today. Don't worry, I'm paying for it myself, but I thought you should know so that you can elevate my risk status for future policies. Thanks!"

I think your clutching at straws. Your analogy couldnt be more wrong. And yes I have reported every motor accident I have been involved in, all Non fault accidents. It has nothing to do with talking from the moral high ground its just what you agree to do when you take out Motor insurance and not House insurance. They wouldnt required you to inform them that you found a window broken.

The problem with not informing your insurance company as dave1 said should problems arise further down the line you have no recourse and you are also trusting someone you have never met before in your life to stick to an agreement. Should a few months down the line find he wants to claim for personal injury then you are up the creek without a paddle, and your insurance company is now refusing to pay out and they have also cancelled your insurance. Trying to get insurance after and insurance company has done that do you will be very difficult to obtain. I dont think anyone will agree with you in keeping the truth from your insurance company and to suggest that others should do the same is foolhardy. Mike

[dave1]

I was not talking from "moral high ground" matt, just pointing out the problems that might arise further down the line. As Mike says your analogy re broken house windows is somewhat irrelevant since I don't think I have ever been asked on Home or Contents Insurance anything other than if I have claimed in the last 5 or 7 years, but certainly not if I have been subjected to either a break in or a theft.

[matt-c]

It's interesting to see which of the posters here immediately got defensive after I posted. Interesting indeed.

[dave1]

Not difficult to see which people you mean since only 2 of us have posted since your comments unrelated to vehicle insurance, but not defensive at all Matt. Just putting a point of view.........as you did. Why get derogatory about members posting responses to posts on these forums? Having read your posts over a considerable time I was surprised. Not sure why you would find it interesting either!